Hard Times at the Times

Even the mighty New York Times is not immune to the profit squeeze that affects much of the press. In fact, the Times has been hit harder than most. Despite record revenues of $209 million, net income for the first nine months of this year is down nearly a third, to $6,435,000. Although Sunday readership continues to grow, circulation of the daily paper has dropped 31,842, to 814,290 in 1971, and ad volume is off more than 6%, or 3,649,000 lines.

To underline the difficulties, Publisher Arthur Ochs ("Punch") Sulzberger recently sent a letter to all 5,500 Times employees at their homes. "The recession has affected other newspapers too," the letter pointed out, "but when we compare our performance to theirs, we do not look good." Of eleven publicly owned newspaper operations he listed in the letter, Sulzberger pegs the Times dead last in percentage of after-tax profit margin--a razor-thin 2.7%. Warned Sulzberger: "If it turns into a trend, it can jeopardize the security of our jobs."

Sulzberger notes that "we are overmanned in too many areas." His letter complained of restrictive union practices that have blocked automation, careless printing errors in classified ads that require $2,000,000 a year worth of reruns, and a disturbing increase in plant sabotage. "I don't want to appear quarrelsome," he wrote, "but these matters affect your security, your work and your company. You are going to have to help solve them if this company is to be a prosperous one."

Staffers who took the Times up on its stock-option offer two years ago know only too well that prosperity is elusive. The stock they bought then for $35.70, 15% under the market price, closed last week at $16.25.

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